World's most dangerous profession

It must be musician in the Hot 8 Brass Band.

You may recall the story of Joe Williams, T-bone player for the Hot 8; but new is Dinerral Shavers, snare drummer for the band. He was shot in the back of his head last night while driving through Mid-City with his wife and two children.

According to the band's website:

Three valued members of the Hot 8 Brass Band have been lost, two of them to the violence of the New Orleans streets. The band continues to honor them with their music: Demond "Bart" Dorsey (trombone), Jacob Johnson (trumpet), Joseph "Shotgun Joe" Williams (trombone).

Damn. I knew about Joe, I didn't know about Bart and Jacob.

Shavers was the snare drummer for the Hot 8 Brass Band and the music teacher at L.E. Rabouin High School, where he had recently begun the school's first-ever marching band. "I've got 80 kids marching -- we're making history at Rabouin," he said proudly in an interview earlier this week.

Dick was staying here in New Orleans, making a difference.

Damn.

Here's what Dick said about reviving jazz funerals in NOLA:

"It's going to get back to normal eventually. We're going to bring the life back."

He also said about second lining:

“This makes you forget the city is shut down. If you don't pay attention to the houses, you'd never know.”

But the musician's village rejected his family's application.

Not respected while alive, not appreciated while they're here.

He was loved, and he will be missed.

Godspeed Dinerral Shavers.

H/T Editor B.

Comments

[Michelle]

Crap. What is wrong with people? Didn't realize he had 80 kids in that band. He certainly will be missed.

[Clay]

Crazy thing was, he was killed by a 15-year-old kid named David Bonds. Dick Shavers wasn't even the target.

He was encouraging kids to do one of the few useful things you can do with an Orleans Parish public schools diploma, and he gets whacked. A real community leader...

I just hope Eddie Jordan is able to put David Brooks in the slammer. Anyone want to start guessing odds on Eddie Jordan getting a meaningful conviction?

[Clay]

Correction: he was 17 years old and his name was Bonds, not Brooks.

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl122806jbdumaine.55f540a3.html

[Infrogmation]

I remember a decade ago bringing some out of town friends to Donna's, where we caught one of the Hot 8's first gigs there. We all agreed that the kid on snare drums was amazing and we'd see him going somewhere.

RIP Mr. Shavers.

[berto]

Happy New Year to the Morris family.

[saintseester]

Happy New Year! See ya at the next game!

[humidhaney]

He was shot because his son or his step-son had words with someone else. That someone else got a gun and took him out, but he missed. Hit the driver, Dick Shavers, instead.

What is wrong with this community?

[seositeden.blogspot.com]

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[muebles camobel]

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[North Face Sale]

Well it was a pleasure to read such a wonderful story.I must say Great story and epic journey.

[Duangtida]

For anyone who cares, LBJ was a rascit. It's not his fault; he was a product of the environment and times in which he lived. But guess what? He rose above his racism in order to do what was best for the nation! He saw poverty and racism destroying the fabric of this country and he stepped up to the plate and knocked as many dingers out of the park as he could to improve peoples lives. He had a difficult time of it too. He was fought every step of the way by small-minded politicians and rascit idiots who simply couldn't bear the fact that all men just might indeed be created equal. Social programs themselves are not the problem. ABUSE of social programs is an entirely different matter. And let's not forget the justice system. How many murders does one individual need to commit before a judge realizes that it might be in the public interest to either lock this person up and throw away the key, or pump some soup in his arm?And yes, parenting is a major problem. Some people simply should not be allowed to breed. I'm not talking about races here, so don't even try to insinuate that. I'm talking about children and morons. Are you out of high school? If not, don't breed. Are you able to get a job, pay your bills and take reasonable care of yourself? If not, don't breed. Can you be insulted or proven wrong in an argument without beating the shit out of someone or shooting them? If not, don't breed.As for Dave's impeccable numbers, I wonder: Do they include the army? I mean, do those numbers reflect George Bush's murder of innocent Iraqis? Of our own boys murdered by Iraqis in the lie we're mired in over there? George is white. Most of our armed forces are black. The people we're killing are tan. Or does this not count as murder since it's state sponsored. (Even though every reason we've been given for the war has been proven to be nothing but lies?)Again, I suggest this discussion go to another thread as this is the wrong place for it. Wecreep, I'm sorry for your loss. It's very small consolation, I know, but there it is.

[Bupesh]

I am beginning to think that what I thhogut was strength' may be only the numbness of jaded'. Everyday I watch out my back window as the cops at the 5th district gather around the cruisers in the parking lot; standing, talking, sometimes laughing and I walk out my front door to see the doorway where Helen Hill, my neighbor, was shot to death in a horrible meaningless killing, as yet unsolved.I listen as politicians squander our livelyhood and our city, avoiding responsibility and duty, squirming for higher ground, using our battered city as a fulcrum to power and position. And so many lives are destroyed in the waiting .Waiting for what?Until another local kid is shot in retaliation for some crazy feud that has it's cause too far back to remember? Over a turf war on broken streets & sidewalks?Until another bright light, come here to help rebuild the City' is gunned down for a a handfull of crumpled bills, barely worth leaving on the bar?It's a grudge match now.I'll stay to see the Mayor, the Police Superintendent, the crooked Trash Bosses and Home Destroyers brought down. All the way down, to where we live everyday, fighting for our lives. Or until this city takes my life as well.They are the ones who have allowed this to be, through apathy, greed and self congratulation: A City at War with itself, a frightening body count to their corruption, from the drug dealing cops and copper thieves, to the Mayor of False Awards and the Police Superintendent of No Filed Reports.I DO NOT SURRENDER.

[Temosho]

DaveD-block,Communism is not the answer. If chlreidn can't read or write the blame rest on the parents, not the system. People need to start taking responsibility for their own actions. That means getting off welfare and getting a JOB! That means moving your kids out of a crime infested public housing project so they are not exposed to drugs and violence. Also, I noticed that when the floods struck the folks that lived along the Mississippi in states like Iowa and Illinois, none of them stood on roof tops with signs saying help me Uncle Sam. No! These people worked hard and worked together to overcome the blow mother nature had dealt them. I have no compassion for a people who did not flee Katrina because the mayor was not up to the task then turn around and re-elect the guy because of a racist motivated vote. Remember Ray-Ray making the comment chocolate city? If a white mayoral candidate in someplace like a Boise, Idaho or Lincoln, Nebraska had made a vanilla city comment he or she would have been crucified in the liberal media. The people of NO need to elect a mayor that can get things done and have enough political clout to get the resources required to repair the still un-mended damage done by Katrina.

[Mamad]

AnonFirst off, this really hurts. Too many pelpoe I've known have died recently. They came here to do what good they could getting us back. Sadly, I fear Brian will not be the last victim. While growing up this city was known as The City That Care Forgot . It seems more like never knew. Why must good pelpoe such as Brian or Chris Roberts be victims without cause? When will their murders be solved? When will our streets be safe? Will it come down to us patrolling our streets ready to deal out judgment as we see fit?Now, I do have to say something about the police. The officers, actually. Many will blame them for these criminals running free. Many are not to blame. Many have lived their entire lives here, raised families here and had friends murdered here. The sad fact is that the Chiefs and higher, the Mayor and even the states government are to blame. The cops are understaffed, their hands are bound by bureaucrats and lawyers which hinder their work and let criminals free and they are never appreciated for what they do. WE need to show them our support as well as do what we can to stop these criminals. A mind without purpose shall wander in dark places.

[Martha]

What on earth does LBJ have to do with Brian getting shot in the Irish Channel? Really? I mean seulrosiy?Or for that matter, how does wishing people like Chris Matthews, Keith Oberman, and the Kennedye2€™s would be the victims of crime. In particular e2€œblack-on-whitee2€9d crime solve anything?The poverty strata in today's society is all our own. Celebrity worship, cut funding for education to finance Oil Barons and lack of educational resources make it more difficult to crawl out that hole every day. They shoud get a job is the cry of the uninformed. Unemployment is higher then it's been in decades, blue collar jobs are outsourced, and technology, even at an entry level, spirals away from ability at a dizzying rate.If our government (they wrok for us, remember?) would fund education and stop giving out extra checks for every new child born into welfare, we might see an end to this. The boys at the top WANT this to go on. It's their best method of control.In the meantime, wishing crime or violence on rich white folks, liberal or otherwise, to prove that poor black folks are criminals, sounds exactly like the plan that Charles Manson started out with.Good company there, Dave.

[Dorjoo]

the D-Blockfuck off Dave. the brutality we wisents in New Orleans is not a coincidence; it is one product of powerful systems built for profit.Let the poor kill the poor, let the illiterate rob the illegal, let us factionalize by race/ward/whatever and claw one other for crumbs while the fat cats ride high. This is by design. In New Orleans, the inequities are a little harder to ignore than in some other parts of the country, where privilege protects people like us you know, us, the pinky-wide stratum of New Orleans that has internet access and can read/type at a high-school level.By all means, arm yourself & shoot first, but don't mistake the disease's symptoms dehumanization, casual violence and manic avarice for the disease itself. The system's fucked. The state can be relied upon for nothing except oppression. The system's fucked everywhere, but this happens to be a place where there's just no mistaking it.